Sunsets and Silhouettes
by BoxingTheStars
Summary: A collection of Percabeth one shots. Rated T for safety/some romance. Reviews are much appreciated, of course!
1. Thief

**Author's Note: **I finally got around to posting some one shots I've left lying around! This is the first, but there will be more newly-written ones later on. Summer is almost here, which means more time to write.

**Disclaimer: **I do not own Percy Jackson and the Olympians or... anything else in this story, really.

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><p>"Kelsey!" Her agitated voice floats even through the closed window of her dorm room. Or maybe it's because he's got his ear pressed up against the tiny panel of glass. Either way, he's heard the entire conversation – though more of Annabeth's side than the other girl's, to be honest. She's speaking (or more accurately, shouting) in the same tone of voice that she uses on him when he's really screwed something up, usually punctuating the end of her sentence with "Seaweed Brain", which was somehow both offensive and endearing at the same time. He's never noticed it before, because he's usually trying to get his foot out of his mouth or struggling not to hit something when she is in one of these moods, but she's quite impressive when she's angry. No wonder her roommate is rifling through her neatly packed suitcase like her life depends on it.<p>

"I told you, Annabeth," The other girl huffs, still digging through her piles of clothes as if the missing item is going to miraculously appear. Percy knows for a fact that she won't find it, but it's still fun to watch, "I haven't seen it. Why do you need a Yankee's cap over winter break when you're going to _San Francisco _anyway?"

He knows Annabeth can't give the mortal the real answer, but _he _knows why and his stomach twists unpleasantly at the thought. San Francisco is dangerous for half-bloods – monsters flock there like flies to honey – but that's not exactly why he's feeling so opposed to her trip. Of course, he is _worried _about her. Even now that Kronos is defeated, he spends every waking moment worrying about her... or at least, many of his waking moments. Perhaps "every" is a bit of a stretch, but he does find his minding straying to her safety every now and again. Arrows, blades, claws, even bullets – they all bounce of of _his _skin, or else they miraculously miss him. But any of those things will go right through her. Annabeth is a good fighter and a brilliant, but she's so _fragile. _Everything seems so fragile ever since he bathed in the River Styx.

But as worried as he may be for her safety, this is nothing new. As a demigod, he spends a lot of his time worrying – for friends, for camp, for Olympus, for all of Western Civilization. Lately he worries about the seven half-bloods that Rachel spoke about in her last prophecy; seven people who have unknowingly had their fate decided for them. No, this is a different kind of feeling. The knot in his stomach creeps up in his chest and settles there, impairing his ability to pull oxygen from the air. He sighs, trying to rid himself off this feeling, but all that comes of it is a misty patch where his warm breath hits the cold pane of glass. Neither girl notices.

"I... I just do," Annabeth replies weakly, giving her roommate a look that clearly dares her to argue, "It was a gift from my mother."

It's not so much that it was a gift from her mother that matters, it's that she truly needs it. From fooling monsters to sneaking out of school grounds to see _certain people _during the week, Annabeth's cap of invisibility is one _very _important magical item. Percy knows that, but the knot in his chest prevents him from doing anything about it. He wants her to be happy, to go to San Francisco and spend the holidays with her family; but at the same time... he doesn't. He wants to walk with her in Central Park, holding her hand and watching snowball fights break out amongst the other kids, wallowing in their two weeks of freedom. He wants to take her ice staking in Rockefeller Center, like all of the other couples. Most of all he wants to bring in the new year with a kiss, whether his parents are watching or not.

The other girl falters at Annabeth's words. Percy doesn't know what Annabeth has told the mortals about her mother, but it's clearly a bit of a touchy subject. Maybe she let something about her family slip. Maybe she's been pestered about it before, "Well... d'you think – maybe – you could just... take another hat?"

For a moment anger flashes across her face, but then she reigns it in, and there's only that anxious look again, "Yeah... yeah, I guess I could." She admits, reluctantly, but this is a blatant lie. Unless Athena happens to keep spares up on Olympus, Annabeth's Yankee's cap is one of a kind.

"Time to go," He mutters to himself, knowing that he shouldn't be here in the first place. Not only was it completely unfair to her, it was creepy as all get out. But there was that weird, sinking feeling in his stomach whenever he thought about her leaving, and it drove him back to that stupid boarding school.

Besides, he owes her a Christmas present.

For the first time, he remembers the lump in his pocket: The second reason he so cheerfully climbed the fire escape to her dorm room window (not like he knew beforehand which one was hers, or anything). It's nothing much – they exchanged "real" presents yesterday, before they officially said goodbye – but she'll know what it means.

Annabeth is in full panic mode now, even though she already claimed she could take another hat. Her roommate clearly doesn't know her very well, because she's standing back and looking alarmed while Annabeth tears the dorm apart. That's Annabeth for you – restless and defiant until the problem is solved. It's her fatal flaw, she says: Hubris. Thinking you can fix anything. Although right now, it's looking more fatal to Kelsey than it is to Annabeth.

Finally, he reaches into his pocket and pulls out the "gift" that he decided to take at the last minute. It's more of a souvenir, really, but it also has a message, and he wants her to have it. He thought about writing a note to go along with it, but that was far too much effort for this simple little excursion. Besides, she'll know what it means. She is a daughter of Athena, after all.

The little treasure goes down on the window sill, and then (at last) he takes the hat off of his head. He imagines her face when she realizes she's been looking right at it (and her nosy boyfriend) every time she absently glances out the window, and smiles to himself. He'd like to stick around and see _that, _but he can't. Not unless he wants to get beaten to a pulp by an angry daughter of Athena, that is.

Before either girl can see the now-visible Percy Jackson lurking outside the window, he slaps the hat down on top of the gift-slash-souvenir and runs for the hills.

* * *

><p>Annabeth Chase is panicking.<p>

Not Grover-chasing-an-entire-army-back-into-the-Labyrinth _Panic_-ing, of course. If that happened, she was nearly certain Kelsey would leave her belongings in the room and never come back. She already thought Annabeth was pretty weird, and her horrified search of the room wasn't helping matters much.

Thankfully, this is only fluttery-heart-I'm-an-idiot panicking; with a lowercase "p". Her baseball cap isn't vitally, Earth-shatteringly important or anything. Finding it isn't a matter of life-or-death. Still, she doesn't want to go gallivanting off to San Francisco without it.

Like any good child of Athena, she started by sitting down and thinking rationally about the situation. She retraced her steps back to when she last had it: Percy's apartment. But when she called, there was never an answer. After leaving three urgent messages on his answering machine, she's tossed her cell phone on the bed and continued looking through her things, just in case it was buried under something. It wasn't.

She sits down, hard, on the bed, right next to where she'd thrown her cell phone. Kelsey looks on cautiously, as if Annabeth might snap at any moment. Well, maybe she _would. _Her hair is a mess because she'd been running all around the school, her sleeves are rolled up, and she's just finished tearing the room apart with her bare hands. She _looks _like a crazy person; or she will to Kelsey's eyes, anyway.

The savvy, persistent daughter of Athena is inches – no, centimeters – away from giving up, when a tiny flicker of movement catches her eye. It was miniscule, really. It could have been a flag waving on the top of a building across the street or a snowflake that caught the light just right. But desperate times call for desperate measure, and she walks to the window.

Sure enough, her hat is sitting on the other side of the glass, tattered and worn but still miraculously _there. _Barely pausing to consider this strange phenomenon, she wrenches the window open and snatches her beloved Yankee's cap. The move is so quick that she nearly misses the tiny treasure underneath.

A perfect little seashell sits on the windowsill.

Suddenly it all makes sense to her. The last place she'd seen it, the vague flicker of movement outside the window. He'd returned it to her, and he'd probably been watching her this whole time, laughing about the stress it had caused her. The knowledge irritates her, but there's something else there, too. She realizes that leaving is going to be even more bittersweet now.

There's a wave of longing that is quickly becoming familiar to Annabeth, much to her dismay. It's pathetic and weak, but she opens the window the rest of the way and tries to lean out, thinking that maybe she'll catch a glimpse of him turning the corner, or even that he'll be waiting there so that she can pretend to be angry at him.

She can't lean out far enough to see much; the windows are meant to open for air, not to climb out of. It's for the better, she supposes. She would hate to say goodbye by yelling at him for putting her through all that when he could have just _picked up the phone. _

"Seaweed Brain," She mutters to herself, meaning to sound irritated. Instead, she sounds a bit amused as she turns the shell over fondly in her palm.

"What?" Her roommate asks, coming up behind her. Annabeth jumps – she'd almost forgotten about the other girl.

"Nothing," She blurts, slipping the shell into her pocket as she turns around, "I found it."

Kelsey knows better than to push the issue.


	2. Popular

**Summary: **Annabeth gets roped into being made over by a daughter of Aphrodite and doesn't like her motives.

**A/N: **This is kind of fluffy. It got deleted half way through, so it didn't turn out _exactly _how I wanted it, but I thought I'd post it nonetheless.

**Disclaimer: **Tenley is the only character I actually came up with. The rest belong to Rick Riordan!

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><p>As per usual at camp, the sun was blazing down, uninterrupted by a single cloud. A light breeze blew across the grounds, rustling the leaves of the trees in the forest. It did not, however, do anything to relieve the sticky July heat that had finally settled over New York.<p>

Annabeth Chase was beginning to think that the enchantments protecting the camp from bad weather were more of a curse than a blessing. For the year-round campers it was handy – not much snow, no rain to screw up training exercises – but for those of them that only spent summers there it was only an excuse to complain about the excessive heat and sun. Annabeth knew, because she had just spent an entire hour training with them.

She herself, though silent, was cursing Apollo for the sunburn on her shoulders. One thing about armor was that it left some very strange tan lines 00 several times she had been asked about them by her mortal roommates at school, and each time she'd had to tell them some absurd lie. They already knew she was a bit odd, there was no need to give them anymore information.

Tan lines aside, she knew she still looked, to put it bluntly, like crap. Before training she had done her best to tie her hair back tightly, but it had still managed to come undone, leaving curly blonde strands hanging limply around her face, which was pink from both exercise and exposure to the sun. she could practically feel the sweat soaking through her clothes.

It was lucky for her that these things were par for the course at Camp Half-Blood, otherwise she would have been getting some strange looks for her current appearance. Never in a million years would she get away with looking like this during the school year. Still, she was looking forward to some down time. Percy would be teaching a class for another forty minutes or so, and Grover was off on what he liked to call a "mission" to guide a few demigods back to camp, so there was effectively no one for her to spend time with. She had been planning on reading in her cabin or possibly going for a swim in the canoe lake.

"Annabeth! Hey, Annabeth! Wait up, these are my good shoes!"

Indeed, Annabeth had pretended not to hear the voice the first time it had called her name, but there was no way to continue pretending the person wasn't there without coming off as incredibly rude. Slowly, with a bit of a sinking feeling in her stomach, she turned around.

The daughter of Aphrodite was tottering along in a pair of shoes that looked more like torture devices than footwear, her ruby red lips stretched into a wide smile that Annabeth didn't like at all. It was a press smile, like people in business always wore when they were trying to pitch ideas or win over new customers. It was the type of smile that a waiter wore just before he handed you a plate of food which he had spit in. It was the kind of Cheshire grin that said _I know something that you don't! _It was a smile that was reminiscent of beauty pageants and their desperate contestants. It was a smile that she had seen a thousand times over on hundred different people.

This did not bode well.

"Tenley," she greeted warily, scanning the girl up and down in the short silence that followed. Tenley – a trendy name if there ever was one – was a girl just a year or two older than Annabeth, with wavy brown hair down to her shoulders and chocolate brown eyes. Along with her pumps (which undoubtedly had some expensive brand name, though the daughter of Athena couldn't have told you what it was if her life depended on it), she was wearing a pleated denim skirt, a red blouse, and jewelery that all appeared to be in the shape of tiny cherries. Her hair, makeup, and outfit were all in perfect condition; it was obvious that she had been nowhere near the training arena today. In fact, Annabeth couldn't recall _ever _seeing the other girl there, "What's, ah... what's going on?"

"Oh, you know," Tenley replied, shrugging casually, "Just taking a walk. Getting some fresh air."

"Really?" Annabeth shuffled her feet, wanting to get to the point or get out of there. At the same time, she didn't want to ask outright what the other girl wanted for fear of being taken advantage of, "Seems kind of hot for a walk. In heels."

Tenley blanched slightly and looked down at her shoes, as if realizing that they were there for the first time, "Oh yeah. Well, it never hurts to look good, right?" Annabeth opened her mouth to argue, but the daughter of Aphrodite plowed ahead, "But since I ran into you, I was wondering if you could do me a favor?"

_ Figures. _

"What kind of favor? I was actually kind of hoping to change and finish a book I've been reading – "

"Great!" Tenley cut in, seemingly very pleased with this answer, much to Annabeth's dismay, "I'll help you pick an outfit and you can read while you're doing it!"

Annabeth, who was always getting these types of offers and was not particularly interested in any of them, had to stop herself from groaning or rolling her eyes, "Actually, I was just going to put on some shorts or something, no big deal..."

"Oh but _Annabeth!_" she pleaded, tugging on Annabeth's arm and pursing her lips into a well-practiced pout. Annabeth was sure this had melted many hearts in the past, but it was doing absolutely nothing for her, "You have such nice hair... so much I could do!"

Annabeth narrowed her eyes and pulled her hand away, taking a step towards her cabin, "What exactly...?"

"A makeover!" Tenley squealed. She looked dangerously close to jumping up and down while clapping her tiny hands together; something that Annabeth most certainly did not need to see.

"No."

"But – "

"Tenley, I really don't want one. _Really._"

"No, listen, it's for school! _School, _Annabeth!"

Annabeth didn't know why everyone thought she wanted to hear that – she supposed she came off as a brainiac at times, but that didn't mean she worshiped everything academic – nor did she know why any sane teacher would assign someone to do makeovers over the summer, "Why me? Won't one of the other girls want one?"

She knew that the Aphrodite girls felt that she was the one at camp who most needed a makeover, especially now that she had a boyfriend, but objection to it was always worth a shot. She tried not to be too offended that Tenley had picked her specifically to do this. None of them really meant for it to be hurtful – they just wanted everything around them to be pretty.

"Oh, I've already done so many of them! I need a challenge this time."

_Thanks. _

"You need this for school?" Annabeth pressed, a little incredulously. It was all she could do to keep herself from going off on the other girl. Besides, it _was _a legitimate question.

"Yeah – cosmetology, _duh,_" she grinned as if Annabeth had been joking about this. Annabeth attempted a smile, but she got the feeling that it wasn't very convincing.

"Of course. Well, I'm sure you'll find someone. Have you tried Clarisse La Rue?"

Catty, Annabeth. Very catty.

Tenley looked horrified, as if Annabeth was purposely trying to get her killed (which was completely, totally, absolutely one-hundred-percent untrue), "Clarisse? Are you serious? She would _murder _me. I mean, I know we don't talk a lot, but I do _like _you."

Annabeth was softened: It appeared that she had shocked the girl into being sincere, because she was considerably less bubbly and the ominous smile was (thankfully) gone from her lips.

"I guess... if it's for school..." she relented, mentally kicking herself for letting compliments sway her. She supposed she was so hot and tired from training that she didn't have it left in her to argue. Too bad.

"Oh, thank you!" Tenley exclaimed, throwing her arms around Annabeth in what was probably supposed to be an expression of how grateful she was. Almost immediately, and much Annabeth's relieve, she pulled away, perfect nose slightly wrinkled, "But first... yeah."

With no further explanation, she took hold of Annabeth's hand once more and began dragging her towards the Aphrodite cabin. Annabeth looked around desperately for someone who might have been able to get her out of this, but most people were too absorbed in their own affairs to pay attention to the blonde's silent pleas for help.

After being led across the grounds like a child holding its mother's hand, Annabeth finally came to a halt behind Tenley as they stopped at the door. The brunette, with much difficulty (Annabeth assumed she didn't want to break any nails) opened the door and hurried inside. Immediately, she began rooting through a chest of drawers that looked to be made of very dark, very expensive wood; most likely from some thinning rainforest on another continent. Had a nymph or satyr been present to witness this, she had a feeling that Tenley would not have been in such good spirits. In fact, she probably would have been pelted with acorns and wrapped up in various types of vines by now. Given the situation, Annabeth couldn't say she would have minded.

The rest of the cabin was just as lavish, with each set of bedding matching its counterparts and the curtains on the windows. There were no desks along the walls as there were in the Athena cabin, but there were plenty of vanity tables, each one equipped with a large mirror. The only thing Annabeth particularly liked about this specific cabin was that it was always impeccably clean when inspection time rolled around.

"Here," Tenley said suddenly, thrusting a pile of clothes into Annabeth's arms and effectively ending her observation of the cabin's finer details. On top was a white skirt, turquoise blouse, and a pair of embarrassingly frilly underwear that she quickly shoved in between the other two garments, her face feeling hot. On the bottom of the pile was a thick white towel, neatly folded into a triangle.

"Tenley, what are – ?"

"Well, we can't do your make up when you're all covered in sweat! You have to _shower, _don't you?" the other replied, her tone implying, once again, that this should have been obvious. The way Tenley talked as if everything she said was exceedingly stupid was really beginning to get on Annabeth's nerves. Not to mention that the thought of taking a shower in the middle of the day seemed quite uncomfortable to Annabeth. Then again, this entire day was shaping up to be quite uncomfortable, so what was one more thing?

"Are you sure I have to take a _shower? _Maybe I could just wash my face or – " But she was shushed almost immediately by Tenley and shoved out the door in the direction of the bathrooms.

If anything, she thought she might be able to make a break for it as she walked to the shower, but Tenley didn't give her a chance to walk on her own or even speak all the way there. Before she knew it, her armor was being tugged at and soon after she was shoved into a tile stall.

"Tenley!" she hissed, pulling her clothes tightly to her body as if they might fly off of their own accord, "This is stupid! I don't need a makeover! I don't _want _a makeover!"

"Don't be so self conscious, Annabeth, I'll guard the door for you," Tenley replied, sounding flippant and cheerful and all around unconcerned with Annabeth's problems. Annabeth thought for a moment that she could just sit here fully clothed until Tenley gave up, but frankly, she didn't have time for that, and she really _did _need a shower...

Slowly, she began removing the sticky clothes Tenley had not yet been able to tear off of her, throwing them one by one out to the other girl, who was guarding the door, as promised. At last she was down to her underwear, which she draped tentatively over the bar. From outside she heard Tenley call, "Is this your _bra?_"

"Erm... yeah," Annabeth replied as she turned the water on, feeling slightly puzzled and quite aggravated at the same time. She didn't exactly appreciate the nosy questions, and she didn't even know what _else _the garment could be taken for.

"But it's so... beige."

"Yeah, well... it's not like anyone sees it but me. _Usually,_" she added pointedly, not liking the fact that the other girl was probably turning the item over in her hands as she kept watch. Even worse was the fact that she had automatically assumed Annabeth would be dressing up under her clothes – the very thought made her want to squirm. What did people say about her relationship behind her back?

"Oh. Right," Tenley replied, poorly disguised surprise evident in her voice. It was lucky for her that she didn't elaborate, because Annabeth was about ready to lose it as it was. The Aphrodite girls had been begging to do something like this for so long that it was a small miracle that it had not happened sooner, but Annabeth still did not like the way things were going.

Before she even had time to collect her thoughts and calm down, there were bottles and washcloths being shoved at her through the gap. Without thinking, she took the items in her arms and looked over each label, totally lost for words. Then there was a face looking in at her, and the bottles clattered to the floor as she hastily tried to cover herself.

"What are you _doing?_" She squeaked incredulously, her voice sounding quite unlike it usually did. Tenley looked her up and down, face straight as a board. Annabeth was quickly beginning to learn that her opinions differed from Tenley's even more than she had first thought: When had it become acceptable to look in on someone while they were taking a shower?

"When was the last time you shaved your legs?" she asked.

"Last night," Annabeth snapped, "_Tenley I am taking a shower._"

"Right. Well, don't forget conditioner!" Tenley replied cheerfully, popping out just as quickly as she had come.

Annabeth let out a long sigh as the girl disappeared around the corner once more. She'd had her reasons for not wanting to do this kind of thing before, but never in a million years did she think it would be _this _stressful. From what she'd heard, makeovers were supposed to be fun, something to do at sleepover parties with hot cocoa and caramel corn. Not that she wanted to attend a sleepover party either, but still.

At least she was getting a shower out of it. And if any of the other campers asked her what she was doing in the bathroom in the middle of the day with a daughter of Aphrodite, she would tell them that she had been forced.

Yes. It never hurt to think positive.

Finally, Tenley deemed her to be clean enough for copious amounts of makeup to be applied and began instructing Annabeth on how to put on her new outfit. Already, she had lost the argument in which she attempted to convince Annabeth to tighten her bra straps and stuff the cups full of Charmin, which would supposedly change her whole body shape. Now she was pleasing with Annabeth to, "just put on the skirt, already!"

"The thing is, Tenley," Annabeth was saying gently, trying to sound reasonable and calm and not use big words, "I don't really do _skirts. _Don't you have a nice pair of jeans or something?"

Tenley looked horrified at the very thought, _"Jeans? _But... you have tons of jeans already!_"_

"Well, yeah," Annabeth replied, trying to be patient, "Because that's what I like to wear."

"Annabeth," Tenley began, sounding almost as exasperated as Annabeth felt, "This outfit is my _gift to you. _It will open up to so many new possibilities!"

"Erm..." Annabeth shuffled uncomfortably, completely lost for words.

"Now, see, you can fluff out the bottom like _this, _and if you want it shorter you can roll up the waist like _this. _That's the nice thing about these elastic bands," She nodded and demonstrated the techniques with a very practiced air, "They're very versatile."

"Nice," Annabeth replied weakly, hoping to keep Tenley talking about skirt-fluffing techniques until someone came to rescue her.

"Here – you try it."

_Damn. _

She took the skirt from Tenley gingerly, holding it out in front of her as though it was radioactive, trying to delay the inevitable for as long as possible. Tenley looked positively ecstatic with the progress that was being made.

After a significant pause, Annabeth let the towel drop, revealing her brand new underwear and "so _beige_" bra (which was _not _stuffed with toilet paper, thank you very much), and quickly slipped the skirt and blouse on. Unfortunately, it didn't help the feeling of being exposed very much.

Tenley gave a little squeal of delight, "Perfect! Oh, you look so good! Let's go."

"Go...?"

"Cabin! Makeup! Hair!" The other girl waved her arms, clearly desperate to make Annabeth understand how important this was.

"Should have known," she replied dryly, following Tenley back to Cabin Ten.

This was the one thing that Annabeth had truly been dreading more than clothes or showers or anything of the sort. It wasn't that she had never worn makeup before; more that applying make up on a day like today seemed like a complete and utter waste. If she was going to cake foundation and glitter on her face, she figured she should have a good reason for it. Tenley, apparently, felt quite differently about the matter.

She was shoved through the door once again, but this time Tenley steered her to the chair in front of the third vanity.

"Ready?" she asked excitedly.

"As I'll ever be," Annabeth replied wryly. Tenley looked puzzled for a moment before shrugging it off and getting down to business.

Annabeth endured twenty long minutes of being poked, prodded, tugged on, and burnt by a hair straightener before she finally snapped:

"So," Tenley said, finishing off the eye shadow on her left eye, which looked much to heavy to Annabeth, "The fireworks are coming up."

Annabeth nodded, not liking where this was going.

"Are you going with Percy?" Tenley pressed.

"Why wouldn't I be?"

"No reason," Tenley replied innocently, "Just wondering."

There was yet another pregnant pause in which Tenley began working on the other eye and Annabeth began working on taking slow, calming breaths.

"Bet he'll like your new look, though."

"Do you?" Annabeth asked through gritted teeth. She hadn't even thought about what Percy would think about all of this. He had never really mentioned anything like makeup before (she doubted he knew the difference between lip gloss and nail polish), so naturally she just assumed it wasn't an issue.

Was it, though? After all, Percy had been known to keep things to himself, or else ignore the situation until it got hideously out of hand. What if _he _had put Tenley up to this? Would he do that? Somehow she couldn't imagine him chatting it up with the Aphrodite girls, but any excuse to take her anger out on something and escape was fine with her.

Tenley was still bustling around the chair, humming something high pitched and upbeat as she worked, "Definitely. Boys love it when their girlfriends put a little effort into their appearance. Not that you're not _pretty, _but I mean, there's nothing wrong with a little variation..."

Between that, the constant questions about her personal life, and the fact that she had just been poked in the eye with a mascara wand, Annabeth couldn't handle it anymore. She could tolerate Tenley on a good day, but this was just too much.

"Tenley, I have to go," she said stiffly, standing up abruptly and causing a long, black streak to appear on her cheek, "I forgot I have a class to teach."

Tenley looked disappointed and more than a little suspicious, "But you can't go like _that! _You only have makeup on one eye... your hair needs more straightening."

"I'll survive," she replied, eager to get out of there as quickly as possible, and before Tenley could say anything more, she hurried out of the cabin.

Several people outside gave her funny looks as she hurried back to the Athena cabin for a change of clothes. She didn't exactly care; all she wanted to do right now was get out of this skirt and chop the heads off a couple of dummies.

"Annabeth!"

"For the love of Zeus, can't anyone just – oh. You."

Percy had fallen into step beside her, looking tired and hot but still smiling at her, "'You'? Is that really all the greeting I get?"

"Yeah, well," she grumbled, looking down at her feet, which, come to think of it, were clad in a pair of borrowed shoes, "It's been that kind of day."

"Is that why you put on a dress and messed up your hair?" He asked cautiously.

"No, _Perseus. I _spent _my _day in the Aphrodite cabin getting made up like a... like a Barbie doll because Tenley Richards seemed to think my boyfriend would appreciate some 'change' and some 'variation'," she snapped. Percy stared at her blankly for several seconds until she could only deduce that he had no idea what she was getting at, "Where do you think she might have gotten _that _idea?"

Comprehension dawned on his face, "Wait. You think _I _told her to – to make you up like a really lopsided raccoon?"

"Well, where _else _would she have gotten that idea?" Annabeth snapped back.

"I dunno!" he replied, looking uncomfortable, "She's Cabin Ten, they're all really nosy, she probably just wanted to get you talking about it... about... us."

"She couldn't have talked to me without doing... all of _this?_" she gestured wildly to her hair, which was still slightly damp and frizzy in the humid air; then to her single made up eye.

"I don't know, Annabeth, I don't know what girls do for fun!"

She hesitated, grazing her bottom lip with her front teeth as she deliberated this. He really did seem surprised, which led her to believe that this really had been a strange coincidence. And since there was nothing left to argue about, there was nothing left to say. Funny – she had been gearing up for a big fight, and all she had gotten was... this. Perhaps she was turning this into a bigger deal than it needed to be. Just a little.

Percy seemed to take her silence as a cue to apologize, "Look, Annabeth... I don't even _talk _to Tenley Richards. I wouldn't just... walk up to her and ask her to force you to straighten your hair and stuff. I mean, I like your hair. And your... face."

Damn. This was _not _how things were supposed to go.

"Thanks, Seaweed Brain," she replied dryly, resisting the urge to laugh in spite of herself, "I'm really glad you like my _face. _Honestly."

Percy looked relieved, "You know what I meant."

She smiled, the caked on makeup and fried feel of her hair seeming a lot less important as he slung his arm around her shoulders. They walked in companionable silence for several moments before she looked up, jarred by the feeling of the ground changing.

"Percy," she said cautiously, observing the hard wooden surface of the dock under her feet, "What are we – ?"

But before she could say anything more the earth seemed to fall away, and the next second she was in the water.

Percy was beside her, "Thought you might like to wash your raccoon make up off."

"Seaweed Brain!" she gasped, sputtering. It wasn't that she really minded a swim. It was just... "I borrowed these shoes!"

"So?" he asked, still grinning and looking perfectly dry.

"_So? _They belonged to a daughter of Aphrodite! They could be, I don't know, Prada or Gucci or something!" Annabeth hurried to pull them off, consumed by panic as she fumbled for the label. She honestly couldn't care less what brand of footwear she was wearing – a shoe was a shoe – but she didn't want to owe Tenley a thousand dollars because her boyfriend had had the bright idea to toss her in a lake while she was wearing brand new clothes.

"What? What is it?" Percy asked, swimming closer as he noticed the look on her face, "Did they cost a million dollars? Are they ruined forever? D'you think we can sell them on eBay if Tenley doesn't want them back?"

"They're – they're from Payless!" she exclaimed indignantly, "She has all that money to spare and she lent me a crappy pair of cast off shoes from _Payless?_"

Not that she cared about the shoes, really. It was the message that counted there.

"What?" she asked as Percy began to laugh, "What's so funny?"

He looked at her, "I love you, Wise Girl."

She stared at him for several seconds before thinking of a decent reply. It hadn't been said in a serious way, but it was still not what she had expected for an answer.

"Yeah," she replied casually, "I guess you're not too bad either, Seaweed Brain."

Laughing, he pulled her into his arms, and she was left with the thought that maybe this day wouldn't be so bad after all.


	3. Fire

**Summary: **Annabeth struggles to forget her worries while Percy tries to remember. Post TLH, somewhere before the first chapter of Son of Neptune.

**Disclaimer: **Again, I don't own anything but the writing itself. Percy, Annabeth, Jason, Leo, Piper, Camp Half-Blood, etc etc, all belong to Rick Riordan.

**A/N: **Sorry it's been so long since I updated this! This one shot is pretty short, but I wanted to write something angst-y about Percy being gone. I angst over it a lot, so I can only imagine how poor Annabeth must feel. I'm not sure I like the tense I wrote it in. Meh.

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><p>She stares into the fire and tries to forget.<p>

All around her, signs of the campers' excitement are evident. The fire, which had not so many weeks ago been flickering feebly with the loss of their leader and the hopeless quest of three new campers, is roaring happily now, growing and changing in time with their singing. The return of Piper, Leo and Jason, not to mention the discovery of the ship, seems to have bolstered their spirits; especially for the new campers – the ones who hadn't been in the first war, the ones who didn't know what could be coming.

The ones who hadn't known Percy.

Annabeth swallows the lump in her throat and makes an attempt at looking happy. She had always been glad to sing along to their campfire songs, glad for the feeling of camaraderie and togetherness and family. But tonight as much as any other night since he disappeared, she hasn't been able to muster a smile that is actually, one-hundred-percent genuine. And she feels so alone, even surrounded by people.

The melancholy feels especially profound at the campfires. Generally, she tries to avoid them these days, but at the same time she doesn't want anyone to think she's sulking over maps of San Francisco in the empty Athena cabin or sitting on the beach and staring out at the waves in search of her lost love. In truth, she would rather be alone somewhere than here; perhaps not living in a scene from a sappy love story, but not surrounded by seemingly happy people nonetheless. The campfire was where she'd last seen Percy, and every unconcerned smile is akin to a stab from a poison dagger.

A few seats down from her, Leo is waving his arms dramatically to the music as if he's directing the whole choir, much to the amusement of his new friends and admirers. The only people who seem to be ignoring him are Piper and Jason; Piper is sitting close to the son of Jupiter and looking at the him hopefully, but he doesn't seem to want to make eye contact with her.

Emotions had always been a bit daunting to Annabeth, so she had never really been talented at decoding them – especially when they weren't her own. It wasn't hard to find better things to worry about than gossiping about other people's love lives like some wayward daughter of Aphrodite. But now that this whole thing involves her _own _love life, things seem to be in clearer focus.

She does not know what Jason is thinking, exactly, but she herself had been giving the boy a lot of thought as of late. He was, after all, Percy's replacement, his tradeoff, his Roman equivalent. And looking at him across the camp fire, glancing nervously at Piper every once in awhile, she can't help but wonder what sort of girls there are at the Roman camp, and whether any of them had been convinced by a sadistic goddess that they were in a relationship with someone who didn't know them at all... But then, did Percy know _her_ any better? Could there be some daughter of Venus on the other side of the country comforting him and accompanying him on quests as he tries to put a face to a flash of blonde hair or a glimpse of gray eye?

Or perhaps there was no one to welcome Percy in San Francisco. They had established by now that the Greeks were far friendlier to new additions than the Romans were. If they made him fight for a place in their camp, he could win; as much as she teased and challenged his abilities, she knew that much. Besides, he had the curse of Achilles – as far as she knows – and that couldn't hurt, either.

But what of the camp itself? What if invulnerability, the thing that was such an asset in the war, made them suspicious? What would they do with his memories, or lack thereof? It would be easy, she thought, from a strategic standpoint, to turn someone vulnerable and lost into a weapon. If they turned him against his old camp, if they didn't want to listen to reason...

_He wouldn't do that, _she tells herself. This had become somewhat of a mantra over the last few days, _Even if he couldn't remember... he wouldn't let that happen. _

But at the same time there is always a voice in the back of her mind whispering, _Not again. This can't be happening to me again. _

Was this what always had to happen when you allowed yourself to get close to someone? If you were a demigod, the answer seemed to be yes. There was only so much time you and your loved ones were allowed to be happy and safe before it was snatched away from you again. Who did the snatching, she was not entirely certain, but if she ever found out it would be a very bad day for the thief.

More than likely, though, it was simply a combination of circumstances: monsters, the Mist, gods for parents, and now, tensions between camps. Logically, it didn't add up to anything very favorable. Somehow, though, she didn't like to think about it in a logical way. It was easier to have someone to blame, even if it was someone you weren't entirely sure existed.

* * *

><p>Far across the country on a different coast, a young man stares into the fire and tries to <em>remember.<em>

This fire is smaller than Annabeth's, and there is no singing or enchantment to stir the flames. To keep it going, the young man uses not his voice (as if), but a small branch, which he prods the flames with periodically. His sea green eyes dart briefly from to the darkness beyond, which seems thicker and more oppressive than normal darkness. It could have something to do with the fact that he's sheltering for the night in a deep patch of woods, or the fact that he knows there could be a threat lurking in the shadows, or the fact that he's been keeping the only source of light for miles deliberately dim and hopefully unnoticeable to all but the closest enemies.

Whatever the reason is, he can't see a thing past the tiny orb of light the flames provide. Even so, he, perhaps foolishly, keeps his eyes on the fire like it might start speaking to him, answer some of his questions. At night, in the dark, is when the confusion sets in, for it is the only time he actually has space to think. One would assume that the gorgons would use the darkness to their advantage and attack, but they hadn't seemed to have thought of that yet. Or maybe they just hadn't managed to track him down yet. It was only a matter of time, though. They always found him in the end.

For now, he had pushed them to the back of his mind. There was so much to think about these days that gorgons only occupied a small fraction of his thoughts. They brought up more and more questions each time he encountered them, of course, but the snake women themselves were becoming minor distractions compared to the rest of it.

It was appropriate that the only person he remembers at all had been staring into a fire and thinking about him just a few hours ago, when it was bed time on _her _end of the country. Not that he knows that, of course. He barely knows _how_ he knew her, let alone where he could find her. If he did know, he would hardly be huddled on the ground next to a stream (camping near the water made him feel safer), hiding from a couple of crazy gorgons who thought they worked at a grocery store.

He _wants _to know. His memory of Annabeth is infuriatingly dim. He can remember _her, _but nothing that could help him unravel the rest of the mystery. There are only flashes of things he could connect to her – San Francisco, the gray streak in his hair, the smell of lemon. Things like that, which are interesting and frustrating in equal measure. He could remember how he _felt _about her, but Hera seemed to have kept anything particularly significant to the bigger picture to herself.

The odd thing is that he misses her, even though he can't remember all they've done together. He doesn't know how they'd come to be close, but he knows that he cared about her. Maybe more deeply than he cared about anyone else – he wouldn't know, because he couldn't _remember _anyone else.

But he wants to. More than getting rid of the gorgons, more than having a decent meal for once, he wants his memory back. But to do that, he had to stay alive and complete his journey.

He would try, for Annabeth and all the people and places he couldn't remember. Whether he would succeed or not was an entirely different matter.


	4. Reunion

**Summary: **After many long months of separation, Percy and Annabeth are reunited. Post _Son of Neptune. _

**Disclaimer: **I don't own anything! Obviously. Also, don't read this if you haven't finished _Son of Neptune! _There be minor spoilers ahead~

**A/N: **_Son of Neptune _was awesome, but I will forever be wishing for more Percabeth, so I wrote a crappy headcanon to tide myself over until fall 2012. I might write it from Percy's point of view later on, but right now this is enough for me. I thought it would be an okay way for me to break my fanfiction silence.

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><p>It was done. After <em>far <em>too many long months of work, the finished _Argo II _loomed in front of her, its bronze plated hull gleaming in the summer sun, massive sails flapping in the slight breeze that blew through the camp. Even after seeing it, at various stages of completion, almost every single day since last fall, it took her breath away. Annabeth Chase had seen many ships before – in real life and in books – but none of them could hold a candle to this one. Looking at _Argo, _she almost believed everything would turn out all right. How could they fail this mission when they had already accomplished so much? How could they lose with such a magnificent, powerful machine on their side? Surely, they couldn't, she thought. Then she remembered that was she was almost an adult and such hopeful questions were below her – had been below her pretty much since she hit double digits.

She remembered what they were up against. What _she _was up against. It was selfish, but she couldn't help but feel like this was some personal thing. Of course, with Hera involved, everything bad that happened to her was personal. And it was quite possible that Annabeth herself had been a deciding factor in this plan. At the very least, she was positive that the goddess took some kind of grim pleasure in snatching Percy away from her. She certainly wouldn't mind seeing the daughter of Athena depressed and lonely every. single. day. Speaking of her mother, the wisdom goddess was probably up there cheering her queen on. "Oh yes, this is a great plan – save the world _and _get that fish away from my daughter!"

But that was over now. The months and months of waiting, of hoping against hope that maybe Percy would wander back here on his own, were all done with. It was selfish, she knew, that somewhere deep down she had wished Hera's plan would backfire and send Percy home somehow, both because she wanted her boyfriend back and because she wanted something to blow up in that awful goddess's face for once. Surely there were better plans than this, and now that they had figured out what was going on, they could come up with one themselves that didn't involve wiping people's memories, stealing lives, and causing unbearable heartache to countless people. They could send some scouts to California, Jason among them, to enlist the help of the Roman camp. They could bring Percy back, because surely he would be able to help with the ship, even if it _was _an airship. They could... they could...

_Hubris, _a voice in her head would whisper every time her thoughts turned in this direction, cutting off whatever alternative plot she was coming up with.

It was true that she thought she could have come up with something better than Hera's stupid plot, and it wasn't just because she hated the queen of Olympus above any other deity. However, it was also true that it was too late now to change things. In just a few hours, things would be set in motion. The quest, the building of the warship... all that was merely a precursor of what was to come in the weeks and months ahead. The real action started now. _Right _now – because there was someone behind her poking her with the corner of a small crate.

"You joining us, Blondie?" asked Leo, grinning impishly at her, his arms full with a crate of ammunition. Giving ammo to a fire user didn't seem like the greatest idea ever, but he was the one who had started all this, so she supposed he could carry whatever the Hades he wanted.

_Hubris, _said the voice.

"Yeah, of course," she replied, shaking herself out of her reverie. The final preparations had been made, and all that was left now was to board. After eight months of anticipation, it was surprisingly difficult to make herself get on that ship. At first, it had seemed like some sort of a dream, like this still couldn't really be happening to her. As the ship faded out of its skeleton phase and began to look like an actual machine, she had finally accepted that they were really going to do this. But truth be told, now she was just plain terrified.

It wasn't as if she had never asked herself these questions before. What if he still doesn't remember me? What if they've turned him against us? What if – gods forbid – he met some beautiful warrior girl in his time at the Roman camp? The answers to those questions didn't really matter on a larger scale, considering the fate of the world depended on this plan and everything. One would think she'd be used to the Fates spitting in her face by now anyway. But those answers mattered to _her_, and while she was no longer so surprised when things didn't go her way, she still hoped they would. She just tried to prepare herself for the worst.

That was what she was doing as she walked up the ramp and stepped onto the deck of the ship – preparing herself for disappointment and devastation. But at the same time, she couldn't stop the giddy fluttering feeling in her stomach. _In just a few hours, _she told herself,_ you'll see Percy. And at least then you'll be able to see how this whole mess is going to play out._

After eight months of waiting, the trip to California felt like a lifetime. She tried to keep herself occupied – going over charts and maps and blueprints, jotting down notes, thinking about tactics. Despite her efforts, her thoughts always turned back to exactly where she didn't want them: Percy, the prophecy (which seemed more complicated and frustrating than most), and how much she despised Hera.

"Hey, we sent a message to camp," Jason told her at one point when she must have been looking particularly worried, "I'm sure they'll hear us out."

"That's not all I'm worried about," Annabeth replied, giving him a sad smile. Jason's cheeks flushed slightly, and he didn't say anything more after that. She did feel bad for implying her romantic problems when he had his own to worry about. In the time it had taken them to build the _Argo II, _he had inevitably gotten many of his memories back. Naturally, they didn't do anything to simplify this whole situation. Besides, as a camp leader and one of the "trades," he was doubtless under more strain than the rest of them.

Which brought her full circle again – back to Percy. Could he remember her as Jason had started to remember Reyna? She didn't know, and she didn't want to allow herself to believe that he would. And despite the lingering childish hope that everything would turn out all right, her heart felt heavy. There were so many potential outcomes to this situation, so many things to go wrong. And as a daughter of Athena, it was pretty much in her blood to find all of those things and come up with ways to prevent them. But how did you singlehandedly prevent a full blown war?

_You don't, _she chided herself, _you know that. _

_Hubris, _the voice chuckled again.

* * *

><p>"Land, ho!" Leo called out enthusiastically when Camp Jupiter was in sight, "Man the sails! Secure the masts! Um... look friendly!"<p>

He was running around deck looking as happy as a kid in a candy store, despite the dire circumstances, and generally trying to land the ship safely while also making sure they weren't about to be blown out of the sky. Meanwhile, Annabeth was trying to do her own job without throwing up over the side of the ship. What a fantastic impression _that_ would make on their Roman counterparts.

They managed to land without incident, but, to no one's surprise, the crowd that was gathering around the ship did not look like a friendly welcome committee. In fact, every single person in sight looked as if they were ready to attack at the slightest sign of a threat. Since she assumed the Romans knew as well as anybody that looks were deceiving, she was more worried about something accidentally going wrong than looking nonthreatening.

"Greetings from New York!" Leo shouted over the side, taking a pause from rolling up the masts to wave at their new – hopefully – allies. Piper promptly elbowed him in the ribs. Annabeth was too focused on trying to look casual to worry about Leo's antics. She hardly thought the best way to gain the Roman's trust was running off of the ship and shaking the first camper she ran into while demanding to know what they'd done with her boyfriend. Not that she would have done that anyway – probably. It was just too embarrassing. So she kept her eyes peeled, trying not to look too conspicuous as she scanned the crowds.

And then, out of the blue, there he was. It would have taken her less time to spot him if he hadn't been wedged between two other people, but not much. To her immense relief, _those _three looked friendly. The fact that Percy wasn't pointing a weapon at them made her feel much better about this whole situation. Tyson had said he was all right, but Annabeth had just not allowed herself to believe the cyclops fully until now.

She must have overestimated her self control, because as soon as this hit her, she rushed to the side of the ship. Jason was trying to speak, and paused briefly in surprise as the streak of blonde and orange shot past him. The Roman campers surrounding the ship raised their weapons uneasily at the sudden movement, but a tiny head shake from a dark haired girl in the front of the crowd kept them from firing. The crowd seemed to part for Percy, too, which she thought was a bit odd. And what on Earth was he _wearing?_

Gods, why did she _care?_

Percy looked up at the sudden movement too, and suddenly his face broke into an even wider smile. Annabeth felt as if she had been punched in the stomach. All she could do was stare – at him, at the ridiculous toga-cape getup, at the people on either side of him. She raised a hand in greeting, almost shyly. It seemed an inadequate way of greeting someone after such a long absence, but it wasn't as if she could launch herself over the side of the ship and run into his arms like the lead character of a sappy romance novel. Even if a reaction like that had been desirable and acceptable, she didn't know if she would have been able to make herself move; she felt almost frozen in time.

It seemed to take Jason hours to finish explaining things, even though he did quite a good job summing everything up in just a few minutes. The dark haired girl – Reyna – kept nodding seriously, but she also looked like she was trying not to look too happy about the return of their old _praetor. _Annabeth wondered how all of that was going to work out with Piper thrown into the mix, but maybe her mind was just more on relationships than it should have been.

Finally, she said, "I think we're going to have to take this discussion somewhere more convenient. If you and your crew would like to disembark..."

She and Jason shared the tiniest of smiles as he descended the ramp, beckoning the rest of the Greeks to follow him. Annabeth stood aside to let Piper and Leo pass before following them, forcing herself to go slowly.

There was a very tense moment in which the small group of Greeks stood before the much larger group of Romans, both parties completely unsure of what to do. Then Reyna stepped forward and put a hand on Jason's shoulder. He gave her a slight nod, and they shook hands.

That was when Annabeth's willpower broke. She and Percy had simply been silently looking at each other until then, but now she closed the gap between them in a few strides and threw her arms around him unabashedly. After all this time, she _just didn't care _what the consequences of it were.

He didn't seem to care, either. There was a split second where he was too surprised to react, and then he wrapped his arms around her with such enthusiasm that she was briefly lifted off the ground. Then they simultaneously remembered that they had a very large audience and stepped away from each other. To her horror, her eyes had started to tear up.

"Nice outfit, Seaweed Brain," she said thickly, punching him on the arm playfully to cover up the wateriness in her voice. It really was ridiculous, and the sheer _Roman_ nature of it unnerved her, but the most important thing was that he was here and _himself, _and he knew who she was, too – it was better than she had been hoping for.

"Thanks, Wise Girl," he replied, rubbing the back of his neck absently with one hand. She didn't blame him – people were starting to stare, though admittedly they weren't the most interesting thing to be looking at, "You don't look bad, yourself." He poked her in the arm.

"Are you kidding me?" she quipped, "I haven't slept in eight months."

He laughed at that, and they hugged again, but this time it was more reserved.

"Oh," Percy said suddenly, as if he had just remembered something, "These are my friends, Hazel and Frank. We fought giants together. And won."

"No surprise there," Annabeth replied, offering a tentative smile to the two demigods who had walked with Percy to the ship. They looked a bit uncomfortable, which immediately made Annabeth feel better. Right now she was willing to accept anyone who didn't look like they wanted to kill her, "I'm Annabeth. Thanks for, you know, not killing my boyfriend, and all."

"It was hard," contributed the boy, whom she presumed was Frank, "He's pretty annoying." He nudged Hazel, but she didn't seem to be paying much attention to them. Actually, she was staring across the circle at Leo Valdez. Frank shifted uncomfortably and took a step away from her.

_Oh gods,_ she thought, observing the way Frank looked at Hazel, the way Hazel looked at Leo. It didn't take an expert strategist to know where this one was going. Love triangles were apparently more common for demigods than regular mortals. Aphrodite must have been watching too many soap operas lately, or something.

Percy saw the way she was looking at Frank looking at Hazel looking at Leo, and gave her hand a slight squeeze as if to say, _No love triangles here._

She held on to it, trying to ignore the feeling of apprehension that was creeping back to her. There was no doubt that any challenge would be easier to face with Percy by her side, but she still didn't want to think about what challenges might lie ahead for them so soon after they'd been reunited.

_One step at a time, _she reminded herself. Before they tackled armies and giants – or armies _of _giants – they'd have to get close enough to the Romans to unite their forces. They could fight giants – and win – but only if they could keep from killing each other long enough to become allies. And that, she thought, _would _take an expert strategist.

_Hubris, _her conscience whispered. She pushed it back. One day, she would have to face her fatal flaw. One day it might actually be _fatal. _One day that voice would get to say _I told you so. _But today was not that day, because surely the Fates were not that cruel. Surely she could have just twenty-four hours of, if not happiness, security and a warm hand to hold? Was that really too much ask?

_You tell me, sweetheart, _said the voice, _you're the expert on _everything.


	5. Spider Bite

**Disclaimer: **I don't own anything! That's the simplest way to put it.

**Summary: **Annabeth goes back to Camp Half-Blood to escape the spider filled mayhem of Halloween, but her plan backfires when a spider torments her all weekend.

**A/N: **This is just a fluffy little Halloween fic, probably set in some universe where Heroes of Olympus doesn't exist yet. No wars, no unbearable cliffhangers, just fluff (and spiders).

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><p>It was a well known fact at Camp Half-Blood that children of Athena were not the biggest fans of spiders. It wasn't because they were less tough than the other kids or even because they didn't like looking at their hairy, spindly legs or beady little eyes. It wasn't necessarily because they were creeped out by the way arachnids scurried across the cabin floor and up walls, or how the things could spin a web and drop down from the ceiling when you were least expecting it. Those were all definitely contributing factors, as they were with most people, but the main reason children of Athena couldn't stand spiders was because they were, quite literally, out to get them.<p>

Whenever a spider came too close to a child of Athena, something seemed to resonate with it – a spidey sense, if you will. One would think that, being so small and having equally small brains and eyes, spiders wouldn't be able to tell one lumbering human from the next, let alone who their parents were. Unfortunately for all the blonde-haired, grey-eyed brainiacs in the Athena cabin, something their dear mother had done a long time ago had landed them all in a very unpleasant situation. For the most part, they had all learned to keep the creepy crawlies at bay, but let one too close and you were doomed. At least, if the wisdom goddess was your bio mom.

So really, it wasn't the spiders themselves that were so terrifying to them. Most of the Athena kids probably would have been just fine stomping on a spider if the spider in question wasn't also trying to jump on them, and if they hadn't already been dealing with it for most of their lives.

Annabeth Chase was particularly inclined to hate the things. She had run away from home and spent far too long sleeping outside, where spiders tended to flock to her. She could distinctly remember many times when she'd woken up to one crawling on her, at which point she would scream and cause a huge fuss until Luke or Thalia got rid of it. There was no more sleep for anyone else on those nights; after such a big ruckus was made, they had no choice but to move lest any monsters or other such threats had been alerted to their presence.

Now, well, she had bigger things to worry about than spiders, but they still weren't her favorite things in the world.

The first time that year she had to deal with a spider prank was October seventeenth – a little early for that kind of childishness, in her opinion, considering Halloween was still two weeks away. It was well known by her roommates by now that she was terrified of spiders, and they often ribbed her about it. However, Halloween was a completely different beast. The availability of fake arachnids suddenly shot up, making it far to easy for her classmates to get their hands on them. Plus, the season seemed to provide them with endless inspiration for their pranks.

She woke up in the middle of that night with a giant rubber spider dangling over her head. This wouldn't have fooled her when she was fully awake and could see properly, but of course her roommates knew that. She screamed, sending the security guard running and her roommates into fits of laughter.

It was all downhill from there. The initial reaction – perhaps overreaction – only encouraged them, no matter how many dirty looks she shot their way. Since her knife didn't work on mortals and since she considered herself too mature to retaliate, there was nothing she could do but take the first opportunity to escape.

At the end of the month the students got an informal fall break, which basically meant they got a four day weekend. Those who lived in New York or surrounding areas got to go home for a few days, and those who lived farther away got to enjoy time to catch up on work or just relax. Annabeth couldn't walk through the damn city without attracting a few Dumpster- or sewer-dwelling spiders, not to mention be bombarded with all sorts of unpleasant Halloween imagery, so she decided to go back to camp for the weekend. There, at least, she would be safe.

Or so she thought.

The taxi dropped her off at the bottom of the hill, as usual. She paid the driver, declining his offer to carry her bag up for her, and headed into camp.

Even though she had always yearned for a normal life, Camp Half-Blood felt like home to her. It was practically where she had grown up, and continued to provide a safe haven from the outside world – most of the time, anyway. There would always be a special place in her heart for the place.

She greeted several people on her way in, but went straight to the Athena cabin to deposit her bag on the bed which would always be hers. As soon as it hit the sheets, something scurried out from underneath the pillow, disturbed by the movement. Annabeth let out a shriek, stumbling backwards onto the bed next to hers. The enormous spider raised its front legs, waving them grotesquely in the air. She scrambled backwards, nearly falling off the other side of the bed and onto the floor before the door opened.

Sensing the presence of someone else – presumably someone who was not going to be so intimidated by it – the spider put down its legs, paused to set its beady eyes upon Annabeth one last time, and scurried out of sight. Still shaky, Annabeth looked up to see who had saved her.

"Percy!" she exclaimed, thoroughly relieved that the person who'd witnessed the spectacle was not someone who would cruelly use it against her. At least, if he were to use it against her, it wouldn't be out of spite, and she had plenty of ammo to shoot back at him, too. It was all about balance.

"What was that all about?" he asked, looking as if he was holding back a grin. She was going to chalk it up to him being happy to see her so she wouldn't have to smack him. This was, after all, a chance for them to hang out for nearly four whole days before school got in the way again. It made sense.

"Just a s-spider," Annabeth replied, making quite the effort to keep her voice steady as she said it. Then she continued, in a more authoritative tone, "And you're not supposed to be in here!"

Percy raised an eyebrow at her. "Okay," he said, "I'll just leave and see if it comes back."

"No!" she exclaimed, a bit too quickly, "I mean, I'll come with you. I was just dropping off my things."

"What if it comes back later?" Percy went on, still looking more amused than concerned.

She scowled at him, "You think I'm going to go _looking _for that thing? Uh-uh. You're the big strong son of Poseidon – _you _do it," she challenged.

"Fine," he replied, in an equally challenging tone, dropping to the ground to look under the bed. Meanwhile, Annabeth stood against the next bed over, trying not to think about that spider and how it was probably going to get all of its little eight-legged friends.

"See anything?" she asked after a few moments, trying to act casual. Her eyes were constantly scanning the floor for any sign of the beast.

"Nope," he replied, voice muffled. As he began to stand up, he hit his head on the bed frame, cursing in Greek. At this, Annabeth couldn't help but laugh, temporarily forgetting about her earlier scare.

"Come on, Seaweed Brain," she said, grabbing his arm to pull him up, "Let's just get out of here."

* * *

><p>The next scare came later that night, the only difference being that this time all of the year round campers, plus Annabeth and a few other visitors, were occupying the cabin, so that when the spider appeared again there was a lot more commotion about it.<p>

"_Spider!" _someone screeched in the pitch-black cabin, effectively waking up all of their siblings. It was never really clear who it was that raised the alarm, which was probably a good thing – the rest of the camp would doubtless want to kill them for interrupting their sleep. And in a camp where weapons were a dime a dozen, it wouldn't be too hard, either.

Understandably, the cry raised much commotion, and definitely more than it would have if the spider had appeared in any other cabin. Then again, there was really no cabin a spider would appear in _but _Athena's.

Someone flicked the lights on, revealing the chaotic scene before them. Everyone had scrambled out from under their covers at once, as if afraid there were more bugs crawling in their sheets. A few people had hopped out of bed all together and were standing in the middle of the floor on their toes, frantically searching for the offending pest. As if any of them would have the guts to step on it if it came near.

"Enough!" Annabeth shouted, though she too was standing on her bed holding a pillow like a weapon. It was easier to talk steadily when you were bossing someone around, though, "It's gone now. Everyone go back to sleep. Just because tomorrow's Halloween doesn't mean we don't have things to get done."

Despite the fact that she was no longer a year-round camper, her cabin mates obeyed, climbing back into bed. The lights flicked off again, and silence fell in the cabin – but even then, no one slept much that night.

* * *

><p>The next morning she met up with Percy on the way to breakfast, dragging her feet. She estimated that she'd slept for less than three hours last night – and that was all added up together. The longest she'd slept at a stretch was probably forty minutes.<p>

"Are you okay?" Percy asked, peering at the dark circles under her eyes.

"Someone saw a spider," Annabeth yawned, "No big deal."

"Was it the same one?" he continued.

Annabeth shrugged her shoulders, "Who knows? It was dark, and it hid when we turned the lights on."

"Weird," Percy commented. Annabeth gave him a strange look, "Because they usually stick around to freak you guys out, right?" he explained.

"I guess," she answered, giving another small shrug. She was honestly too tired to contemplate this.

"Well, maybe after breakfast we can go spider hunting," Percy said, nudging her in the ribs. She grinned and pushed him playfully.

"You're not allowed in there," she scolded.

"I'm... aiding in extermination," he said seriously, causing her to laugh again, "No, we'll get Grover to play it a song and then we'll... well, he won't want to kill it. We'll dump it in the woods."

"We'll see," Annabeth responded. The thought of actually picking a spider up, even in a container, and carrying it somewhere made her skin crawl.

* * *

><p>The children of Athena were practically dozing off over their breakfasts, but they were certainly woken up when something scurried under the feet of everyone on the left side of the table. Even after so many years of being targeted by every spider in the vicinity, they were not used to it, and the previous night had left them wired. There was much shrieking and a few instances of falling backwards from the table, this time in the sight of everyone at camp. The Hermes cabin found this particularly amusing; their laughter almost drowned out the racket the Athena kids were making.<p>

Annabeth huffed, as if personally offended by this undignified display, even though she too had scrambled away from the table. Everyone seemed to have lost their appetites and were now getting up to resume their daily routines. Perhaps watching the spectacle was sustenance enough for the morning.

"That spider really needs to go," Percy said, putting a comforting arm around her. Annabeth nodded her head in agreement, although her arms were still crossed defensively. She couldn't agree more.

Annabeth felt dead on her feet for the rest of the day, but she was still jumpy and couldn't stop looking around for that _damn _spider whenever she went somewhere new. From the rock wall to the arena and back to the cabin, she couldn't help but feel like that _thing _was going to pop up and jump on her.

After beating her for the fourth time in sparring practice, Percy capped Riptide and walked over to her, apparently completely unconcerned that she was still holding her knife. She blinked, as if surprised that he had gotten over there so quickly (she must have been _really _tired), then sheathed her weapon and leaned forward onto his shoulder, shutting her eyes. He put his arm around her again.

"Come on, it's vacation," he said after a moment, apparently realizing more quickly than her that they were in the way of other people's practicing, "We don't need to be doing this."

"We _always _need to be doing this," Annabeth grumbled, but Percy shook his head and began to lead her out of the arena. She could have easily resisted, but she didn't. Three hours of sleep didn't leave you much energy to fight your boyfriend.

They ended up in the strawberry fields. It was a place they seldom went, since you weren't _really _supposed to be there and satyrs didn't really like you trampling on their plants, but it was deserted today.

"I'd like to see that spider find us all the way out here," Percy said, sounding extremely satisfied with himself.

"Maybe it's off terrorizing _other _children of Athena," Annabeth quipped, leaning on him again.

"Let's hope so," Percy replied.

* * *

><p>Indeed, the spider seemed to have grown bored with Annabeth and left them alone all afternoon. Or perhaps it was just trying to lure them into a false sense of security. Either way, everyone felt much better by the time the campfire rolled around. And surely, thought Annabeth, a spider would avoid fire at all costs.<p>

Much to everyone's surprise, Nico di Angelo paid them all a visit, although he mostly lurked in the shadows and tried not to draw attention to himself. Someone commented that it was appropriate for the creepiest demigod to show up to the Halloween camp fire. Percy and Annabeth were sure to shoot them dirty looks periodically.

Even though the Greeks didn't really recognize Halloween, most of the kids were familiar with the concept and had participated in some Western ritual for it before. Tonight they enjoyed singing improvised Halloween versions of all of their favorite songs – lyrics people came up with were quite hilarious – and some of the more creative campers offered to tell scary stories.

"The steps creaked under his feet as he climbed up to the attic – "

"_Spider!"_

"Oh, not again!"

But it was. The spider, bigger than any Annabeth had encountered and looking extra spooky in the flickering firelight, had scurried out from a log and to their side of the camp fire. With a small gasp, Annabeth lifted her feet up from the ground and tucked them underneath her.

"Someone just kill the stupid thing!" shouted an exasperated sounding daughter of Aphrodite.

"No argument there," muttered Percy, standing up.

"You know," said Nico, interrupting Percy mid-step, "Some people say that when you see a spider on Halloween, it's really the ghost of a loved one coming to visit you."

In the firelight Annabeth could see that same daughter of Aphrodite rolling her eyes. One of her brothers muttered, "He _would _know that."

"Is it true?" Percy asked, putting his foot down without stepping on the spider, which had come to a halt and was waving its legs around menacingly again.

"Nope," Nico responded, and before Percy could do anything more, he stepped on it himself. The campers had all fallen silent, and the crunch was audible all around the fire.

"Eww!" shrieked the daughter of Aphrodite.

But it wasn't the shell of a living spider that had made the noise – when Nico lifted his foot up, what remained under it was a small pile of tiny gears and bolts, on top of which were some pieces of cracked casing.

"It wasn't _real?_" Annabeth demanded, jumping up herself now that the threat was gone, "No wonder it's just been scurrying around all day."

The Hermes cabin was snickering by now, but it was a group of Hephaestus campers who looked truly pleased with themselves. Annabeth inhaled, preparing for a thorough scolding, but Percy interrupted her before she could even begin.

"Hey – a little Halloween fun never hurt anybody," he said lightly.

"Oh, no – except for the people who fell off of beds, and the people who tripped in the dark, and the people who couldn't focus because they didn't sleep, and – "

But before she could go on, he leaned forward and silenced her with a kiss, right there in front of everyone. There were a few whistles from the surrounding campers, and everyone now seemed quite distracted from the spider situation.

_Okay, _thought Annabeth grudgingly, _a little Halloween fun never hurt anyone._


	6. The Cupid Dilemma

**Summary: **Percy and Annabeth have their Valentine's Day interrupted by the worst possible monster.

**A/N: **Wow, this turned out to be long. Not entirely sure where this would take place in the current timeline (pre/post-SoN?) so I just pretty much disregarded that, heh. Anyway, here's some fluffy Valentine's Percabeth!

**Disclaimer: **I don't own Percy/Annabeth/Sally/Paul/Valentine's Day/New York/etc etc.

* * *

><p>Sally Jackson-Blofis opened the apartment door to find Annabeth Chase, dressed in her usual jeans-and-t-shirt combo with a coat thrown on and smelling rather more flowery than usual. In her gloved hands was a small purse and a larger paper bag, the contents of which couldn't be made out. She gave the girl a warm smile, which Annabeth returned, looking slightly more embarrassed than she might have on another day.<p>

"Happy Valentine's Day, Annabeth," Sally said slyly as the blonde stepped into the foyer, "Percy's in the living room."

"Okay – thanks," Annabeth replied. There was a tiny hint of pink tinging her cheeks now, and Sally knew from experience that it wasn't from the cold.

Paul then materialized in the doorway, holding Sally's coat out for her. Annabeth shuffled into the main part of the apartment, her eyes falling immediately on the head of black hair sticking up over the back of the couch. Percy appeared to be focused on some video game – that, or he was only pretending to ignore her to get her goat. The latter seemed probable, considering that the images on the screen were moving mechanically and did not appear to match up to what her boyfriend was doing at all.

Grinning, she set her bags down and quietly approached the back of the couch. In what seemed like an important point In the demo, she pounced.

"Hey!" Percy exclaimed, dropping the prop controller immediately. With his now-free hands, he pulled her over the back of the couch and into a partial-sitting position next to him. Had anyone else tried this, they probably would have had the offending hands chopped off with a celestial bronze dagger, but she merely laughed at Percy. He, of course, was the obvious exception.

"How did you know I wasn't at some crucial point in my game?" he continued, feigning offense to her interruption.

"Um, maybe because you were playing the demo, kelp-for-brains," she replied smugly, "Come on, I know you can't _really _play that well."

"Ouch," he said, laughing.

Annabeth leaned over and gave him a kiss on the cheek. Then, looking at him with a faux-concerned look, she asked, "All better?"

"Almost," he replied, leaning in to kiss her back. Quick as a flash, she grabbed one of the decorative pillows from behind her and blocked his face with it. He ended up kissing a whole bunch of embroidery and stuffing.

"_That's_ what you get for having me come over while your parents were still here," she said playfully. She had only now heard the apartment door shut and the older couple's voices fading down the hallway.

"They were _supposed _to be gone by five," Percy insisted, "It's not my fault they were running late. Besides, they're cool. They don't care that you're here tonight."

"Yeah, but what if your mom thinks I brought a bag of – like – " she cut herself off.

"Well, did you bring a bag of – wait, _what?_"

Annabeth couldn't help but laugh at his face, "Here, let me show you."

"Are you sure I want to know?" he asked teasingly.

"I'm sure you've seen worse," she joked with a stern look before getting up again. Percy could hear her rustling around behind the couch before she popped back into view, holding a Ziploc bag full of what looked like flour in one hand and a bag of blue colored chocolate chips in the other.

The idea had come to her out of the blue a few days ago, shortly after they had agreed to have a more informal Valentine's Day together (their last formal dinner date hadn't gone terribly smoothly, and besides, the people who went out on February fourteenth were usually insufferable anyway). Pizza, Mario Kart, and movies sounded great, but the romantic side of her (it _did _exist) also thought it might be nice to throw something a little more meaningful into the mix. A throwback to their anniversary (the word still sounded foreign to her) seemed appropriate.

Granted, she didn't really know anything about cooking or baking, and it wasn't as if she could really practice making cookies in a dorm room. Because of her circumstances, her greatest culinary triumph was managing to _not _burn a bag of microwave popcorn, or to successfully toast a marshmallow over the magical fire at camp – a surprisingly difficult feat when a song started up in the middle and changed the size of the flames.

Still, she thought, how hard could it be? Chemically, baking a cake was more complicated than baking cookies, and she had done that before – and with a cyclops "helping", too. All you had to do with cookies was measure, mix, and bake. She had read over the recipe a million times by; it wasn't so different from a blueprint. Just a means to an end. If she could rebuild Olympus, she could bake blue cookies with no problem.

Percy raised an eyebrow at her questioningly, "The chocolate I can understand, but I think you got the wrong kind of _flower._"

Annabeth scowled at him, "Don't be stupid," she replied, hoisting the bag over the back of the sofa next to him, "Look," she instructed, leaning on the back of the couch.

Percy peered into the bag to find what he recognized as all the makings of cookies, neatly bagged up and apparently all measured out separately.

His girlfriend looked on somewhat anxiously, knowing that this idea had been a complete shot in the dark.

"You want to bake cookies?" he asked with a grin.

"Don't laugh at me, Seaweed Brain!" she huffed.

"I'm not laughing. I just never saw you as the type of person who would voluntarily go into the kitchen."

"Well, you're coming with me," she shot back good-naturedly.

They headed to the apartment's tiny kitchen. Percy insisted upon turning on _Valentine's Day, _because he thought Taylor Swift looked a bit like Annabeth. This was not exactly flattering considering the type of character Swift was playing, but Percy was having a good time poking fun at the cheesy script, and Annabeth was rather enjoying herself as she laughed at the characters and their romantic plights. Of course, she had romantic issues herself, but most of them were caused by monsters chasing her, friends being possessed by evil Titans and starting wars with other friends, and the fact that her now-boyfriend had been just a tad slow on the uptake.

And, okay, maybe she wasn't always the easiest to get along with, but she could mostly blame that on her mom.

The dough mixed up no problem (she proudly proclaimed that she knew it would all along, even though neither of them had any extensive experience making cookies). It wasn't until they were measuring out the dough onto the cookie sheet that things started to go downhill.

In hindsight, they should have known that staying in wouldn't really protect them from monsters, wayward gods, or just plain old bad luck. In fact, it was rather laughable that either of them should even think of having a (relatively) normal Valentine's Day.

Percy was trying to put three balls of dough together ("to make a snow man") when there was an almighty crash in the alley.

"Sounds like someone's bowling with the trash cans," Percy joked. Then his face fell, and the two of them looked at each other with wide eyes. After all, in their world it was entirely possible that someone _was _bowling with trash cans. And Zeus only knew what they might be using for the ball.

"I'm sure it'll work itself out," Annabeth offered feebly, although she knew it was no use in the end. They couldn't exactly leave poor innocent mortals out there to fend for themselves... even if they were New Yorkers.

They ran to the window that faced the alley, and Annabeth's heart sank. At one end stood three giants, brandishing clubs that looked as if they might have been made out of the tops of telephone poles. At the other, where the crash had come from, was... no.

"Is that... Mrs. O'Leary?" Annabeth asked, squinting through the fading light.

"No," Percy replied grimly, "but it _is _a hellhound."

"This isn't good."

"No."

Without saying anything more, they broke away from the window in unison and walked back into the living room, where Annabeth's things were laying. Percy touched the pen inside of his pocket, although he knew it was always there. Meanwhile, Annabeth dug her knife and Yankee's cap out from her bag, feeling, much as she hated to admit it, in her element.

Some things you just couldn't do anything about.

Think we should call in some backup? Percy asked. He could practically see the wheels in his girlfriend's head turning, cookies and corny movies forgotten. He wasn't exactly pleased with the turn their night had taken, but sometimes when she got this way, he couldn't help but be impressed by how brilliant she was. He also, sometimes, just couldn't help but wonder how he had managed to get a girl like Annabeth to go out with him – not that he would ever say either of those things aloud to her.

After a moment of calculating, she looked back at over at him, "No. If you distract them, I can sneak up on them while I'm invisible. Then you can jump in. They'll be dust before they even know what's happening, between you and the hellhound."

"And what about _it?_"

"What, you don't think we can take it?"

Annabeth looked so confident that he didn't argue. She didn't like her plans being interrupted, and he had a feeling her _new _plan was to get ride of the nuisance as quickly as possible with as little commotion as possible. But even an expert strategist like Annabeth couldn't always outsmart their rotten luck.

With a final grin, Annabeth slipped on her Yankee's cap with great flourish and disappeared into thin air. A couple of seconds later he saw the door open, seemingly on its own.

Knowing he didn't have much time before Annabeth reached the alleyway below, Percy headed to the kitchen. He needed something to distract the giants before he joined Annabeth from a different angle.

The kitchen was stocked with heavy objects, but he had a feeling that neither his mother nor the neighbors would appreciate it if he started throwing pots and pans off of the fire escape. What he needed was something with a long range that couldn't hurt Annabeth if it drifted down to where she was standing.

The first answer came from underneath the kitchen sink. The second and third came form the door to the fridge.

Not wanting to risk wasting anymore time searching, Percy gathered up his new found weapons and ran back to the window that lead to the fire escape. He looked on with some apprehension as the giants moved in on the hellhound, then backed away again when it snapped at their legs. They were grunting barbarically, brandishing their telephone-pole clubs, and sort of shuffling around – almost as if they were herding it, or something.

Percy wondered why it didn't just jump through the shadows and escape. He supposed it was too proud, but he still didn't like to watch it cornered like this. He had never thought he would develop a soft spot for hellhounds, but then again, a lot of things happened to him that he had never anticipated, and that was probably one of the lesser ones.

At any rate, they had to get rid of the giants before it was remotely possible to deal with the hellhound, so he didn't need to worry about it right now.

Thinking that any mortals who happened to be looking down the alley would be _very _confused right about now, he burst onto the fire escape with as much enthusiasm as he could muster, finding himself just slightly higher than the eye level of the giants.

Wonderful.

The first item Percy pulled from his arsenal was a nearly-full carton of orange juice. Unscrewing the cap, he took aim and chucked it as far as he could into the face of the giant farthest from him. This whole situation was beginning to remind him of the time he got blamed for blowing up the school gym during a game of dodge ball. Ah, the good old days.

The orange-juice-giant roared and covered its face, careening into the one next to it, which reflexively punched back. Meanwhile, the third one forgot about the hellhound it was hunting and backed away from its friends; the hellhound, seeing its opportunity, pounced on the distracted giant and knocked it to the ground.

Unfortunately, Percy had seen the same opportunity at the same time. Abandoning his other two distractions – a can of whipped cream and a bottle of Windex, chosen for their long range shooting ability and vision-obscuring properties – he drew Riptide and jumped from the fire escape at the exact same moment as the hellhound did. He landed on the third giant's head as it was falling backwards and ended up hanging on to its forehead for dear life. He had to trust Annabeth to get the Hades out of the way and not get crushed, because there was nothing he could do while grappling with the giant _and _the hellhound.

Luckily, the fall appeared to give Annabeth the angle that she needed, because the giant vaporized as soon as it hit the ground. Not a second later, his girlfriend materialized beside him, clutching a knife in one hand and her cap in the other. She stuffed the latter hastily in her pocket before grabbing him and dragging him out of the hellhound's path.

The beast, momentarily dazed, now lunged past them and toward the greater thread – the two grappling giants. The result was a tangle of fur and flesh roaring and stumbling around the alley.

"We can't deliver a fatal blow from here – not without getting crushed, at least," Annabeth observed, looking frustrated, "What I wouldn't give for a good bow right now."

"We'll have to climb the fire escapes again," Percy proposed, "You take the far side, I'll take the other one."

Annabeth nodded her approval, "Good. Then once the giants are out of the way, we can drop down on the hellhound."

Percy nodded once, but said nothing to this. Giants first – then he would worry about his internal dilemma over the hellhound.

They split up wordlessly, scaling their respective fire escapes with agility developed after many sessions on the climbing wall at camp. In no time at all, they were at the proper level, and once again nodded to each other before attacking.

They had dispatched the giants in less than a minute, a testament to their many years of excellent training at camp – and the fact that they'd already won a war against the Titans themselves, once. They dropped behind a Dumpster without a scratch, ready to take out the very dazed hellhound the same way.

But then Percy took a closer look at the creature. No, it was not Mrs. O'Leary, but it looked enough like her to make him hesitate. And, he realized with a pang, it had apparently been injured in the fight with the giants.

"Annabeth..." Percy whispered, giving his girlfriend a pleading look.

Annabeth glared at him, "Oh no. I know what you're thinking – _no._"

A whimper drifted to them behind the Dumpster. Annabeth sighed, looking incredibly frustrated – but defeated.

"Is this going to become a thing with you _every _time we face a hellhound?"

Percy didn't answer, because he was already scrambling back up to his room, through the living room, into the kitchen. Tearing the fridge open, he grabbed the pack of ground beef his mother had defrosted for the following night's dinner. Then, as fast as he could manage, he filled a bucket with hot water, threw a towel in it, and tucked another, larger dry towel under his arm. Balancing everything as best he could, he hurried back to the alley, where Annabeth was still hiding.

"If you get eaten," she began, crossing her arms, "I'm just going to walk away."

"Don't I get a kiss for luck?" he joked. She punched him lightly on the arm.

Feeling, as usual, like he was about to do something incredibly stupid but was also unable to stop it, Percy crept into the darkening alleyway and approached the giant hound, holding the meat out as a peace offering.

_I'm your friend, I helped get rid of those giants for you, please eat this delicious raw meat instead of me._

The hellhound growled menacingly at him, and he stopped immediately, holding the meat perfectly still in front of him. After what seemed like hours, the hellhound began to creep toward him. Slowly, he set the packet of beef down on the ground and took a few steps back. Several more seconds passed before it began to chow down on the food. Percy sighed in relief that it had accepted the offering.

When it was done eating, it raised its enormous head and stared at him. Slowly, agonizingly, it moved back toward him, sniffing the air dubiously. It wasn't growling, not even quietly, which was promising, but the look in its eyes was still distrusting. At one point it whimpered as it put too much weight on its injured leg. It was this, more than anything, that made Percy stand his ground – what would happen to it if no one helped? He couldn't bear to kill it to put it out of its misery, but at the same time he couldn't just leave it stranded in this alley until the next round of giants showed up.

He didn't realize that it had started to open its mouth until the wave of foul smelling air hit him – the thing must have been eating out of a lot of garbage cans lately, because it had dog breath times a thousand.

"Percy!" Annabeth called. He glanced back at her with the slightest turn of his head to see that she was standing at the ready with her knife drawn.

He braced himself for what was about to happen, whether it was getting his head bitten off or Annabeth leaping in to kill the thing.

It took him a second to grasp what was going on. There was no piercing of skin or crushing of bones – just a warm, wet, slightly rough and _very _heavy sensation on one side of his body.

The hellhound wasn't biting him – it was _licking _him.

The force of its giant tongue actually knocked him off of his feet, and although the alley floor was cold and grimy, he couldn't help but laugh in surprise and relief. He turned his head from the ground to face Annabeth. The anguished look had disappeared off of her face to be replaced by a sort of exasperated relief. Her knife was back at her side, but her free hand was holding her head – whether this was a result of some lingering worry or was just being used to demonstrate how frustrating his stupidity was to her was unclear.

"It's okay, Annabeth!" he called, attempting to roll away from the dog. Once he successfully stood up, he beckoned her over.

The hellhound seemed wary at first, but once it had ascertained that this blonde girl smelled the same as her companion (_Cookies and demigod_, she thought dryly) and that the weapon she had since re-sheathed wasn't going to be used to vaporize it, it warmed up to her rather quickly.

They worked fast to clean its wound and wrap it in the dry towel Percy had brought down. They weren't as good as the Apollo kids at healing, but it would do for the time being.

"What now, Seaweed Brain?" Annabeth asked when they were finished, "You're the hellhound expert."

Since Annabeth rarely referred to anyone but herself as the expert of anything, he had to deduce that she was being sarcastic.

"We have to get him back to the Underworld," Percy said certainly, "The entrance in Central Park," he added.

"How on earth are we supposed to get an injured hellhound across the city if it won't shadow travel."

And they were back in the kitchen, which was a complete disaster at this point, using the spray of the sink to make a small rainbow in the harsh lighting. The sullen face of Nico di Angelo was staring back at them.

"Sorry to bother you," Annabeth said.

The son of Hades dismissed her with a wave of his hand, "I wasn't doing anything important. What's going on?"

"Well," Percy began, glancing over at his girlfriend, who was looking rather amused at his uncertainty, "We were wondering if you could help us with something."

If they both hadn't looked exactly like a couple of poor saps who had gotten into the middle of a monster fight, he thought Nico would have died of embarrassment at the poorly worded question. They were spending Valentine's Day all alone in an apartment, after all.

"Go on..."

Well, as a son of Hades, would you happen to have any idea about how to get a scared, injured hellhound to shadow travel?"

There was a pause.

"That depends," Nico replied, blinking, "Do you have a scared, injured hellhound you need to get to shadow travel?"

"We may have gotten into a situation with a stray one in the alley by my building, yeah," Percy replied finally.

"I'll be right there."

* * *

><p>As promised, Nico materialized out of the shadows of the alleyway just a few minutes later, dressed about the way you would expect a teenage son of Hades who was spending Valentine's Day alone to be dressed.<p>

Cupid, as Percy had begun to call the hellhound lovingly, barked from his place in between Percy and Annabeth, but it wasn't a threatening bark – more like a greeting. Nico did have a certain look about him; a look that seemed to say, "I spend a lot more time underground with dead people than your average high school student."

The son of Hades approached the hellhound fearlessly and patted it fondly on the nose. Cupid's tongue fell out of his mouth, he was so happy. The whole scene – a giant but dopey dog, flanked by two tired and dirty demigods and being patted on the nose by a broody kid who had just melted out of the shadows – was pretty ridiculous. In Annabeth's opinion, the fact that Percy had decided to start calling the thing Cupid did not help with this image.

She sometimes wondered if the gods sat up on Olympus and laughed at the things their children got up to. This was one of those times.

Nico patted Cupid's nose a few more times before muttering something neither Percy nor Annabeth could make out. Cupid whimpered, but Nico said something else under his breath, and the hound knelt down, albeit with some difficulty.

"Okay," said Nico, resting one hand on the hellhound's neck, "Get on."

Percy and Annabeth exchanged a glance. He had hoped that this would all sort itself out quickly and they could just go back inside, but at the same time he knew that they couldn't just expect Nico to take care of a situation they had gotten themselves into.

Okay – a situation _he _had gotten them into.

Percy hopped on first, and then helped a wary looking Annabeth on behind him. He glanced down at Nico.

"Coming?"

Nico shook his head, "He'll make it to the entrance in the park, though not much farther. I'll meet you there."

Percy nodded once, Nico patted Cupid on the back – and they were off.

It wasn't shadow travel as Percy remembered it. Cupid was uncertain – almost sluggish – and seemed to stumble rather than fly through the shadows. Annabeth had wrapped her arms rightly around Percy's waist and shielded her face in his shoulder; Percy, meanwhile, clung to Cupid's neck for dear life.

A few seconds later, they emerged right in the shadow of the entrance to Hades in Central Park. Cupid, sensing they were close to the Underworld, began sniffing excitedly.

"Don't waste your energy," Nico chided weakly as he appeared out of the shadows. The hellhound barked in response, sounding better already purely for being near his home.

"Now," the son of Hades continued, smirking slightly, "Which one of you wants to sing?"

"Not necessary," Annabeth replied, pulling her cell phone from her jeans pocket. Percy thought the other boy looked slightly disappointed.

Annabeth pressed a few buttons, and the phone blared a jaunty tune from its tiny speakers. For a moment Percy thought that it wasn't going to be loud enough, but then the rock yielded – the entrance appeared right before their eyes. Annabeth put the phone away, looking satisfied.

Cupid started toward the entrance, then paused with a sad look back at the ragtag trio. Percy stepped forward and patted the dog's nose apologetically.

"It's okay, Cupid," he comforted, "Once you get better, you can come visit – you can meet _my _hellhound, Mrs. O'Leary."

He didn't know if the hound could understand him, but he did look a little perkier after that.

Nico bid them goodnight and went down the tunnel ahead of Cupid, beckoning the dog to follow him. With one last farewell look at his new friends, Cupid followed him down. A moment later, the entrance closed, and all that remained was an inconspicuous rock.

It struck Percy how _tired _he was, and judging by the way Annabeth looked, she wasn't feeling too great either. He was beginning to wish they could pull a Grover and take a nap in a tree for awhile, but of course his parents would be incredibly worried, given the scene they were coming home to in the apartment. He wouldn't do that to them. Again.

"Let's get out of here," Percy said, taking her hand.

"You read my mind," Annabeth replied, moving closer to him as they began to walk.

It was completely dark by the time they got back to Percy's apartment. Their walk through the bustling, brightly lit streets might have been romantic but for the fact that they were dirty, tired, and freezing.

As soon as they entered the apartment, they collapsed on the couch.

"I should get going," Annabeth said after a moment, but it was quite clear that she wasn't very enthusiastic about the idea of getting up and going back out into the cold.

She knew Percy was awake and could hear her, but he didn't say anything; his only response was to hold her a little closer. After a few minutes she ceased caring about going back to her dorm; a few minutes after that, they had both drifted off.

* * *

><p>Sally and Paul returned home less than an hour later and were greeted by one of the stranger sights they'd witnessed in the apartment – the strangest being, of course, the time Percy appeared in the living room with Mrs. O'Leary. The kitchen, for one, looked as if it had been hit by a hurricane. Around the sink was a spreading puddle of water, the cupboards had been left open with their contents strewn about, and there was a tray of blue tinted chocolate chip cookies melting on the counter.<p>

Paul, who had wandered into the bedrooms, emerged with a can of whipped cream and a bottle of Windex. This seemed like incriminating evidence, especially to a mortal, but Sally just smiled and shook her head. She knew from experience that things were rarely as they seemed with her son.

The couple quickly cleaned up the worse parts of the kitchen – putting the cookie dough in the refrigerator, wiping the water from the sink, loading the dishwasher – before heading to bed themselves. As they passed Percy and Annabeth, still fast asleep and curled against each other on the couch, Paul gave his wife another questioning look. Again, she shook her head.

"Let them sleep," she whispered, "It'll give us plenty of time to come up with questions for when we interrogate them tomorrow."

The two adults grinned at each other as they shut off the lights and television and went into their bedroom. Sally, for one, was looking forward to finding out what they'd gotten up to on their relaxing night in – but not before her own Valentine's Day was done.


	7. Together

**Summary: **Percy and Annabeth fall together.

**A/N: **Well this only took me, what, eight months since MoA came out? We're still talking about this, right? My take on "the fall" – spoilers ahead, on the off chance you haven't gotten your hands on Mark of Athena yet. Also, I'm sorry this always takes me so ridiculously long to update.

**Disclaimer: **As usual, I don't own any of this. (Except my own emotional turmoil.)

* * *

><p>Suspended in that moment, Annabeth's world was a blaze of pain. She thought absurdly of her ankle – how would it ever heal in Tartarus?<p>

_A one-way trip. A very hard fall. _

Hard, indeed – and nine days long, according to legend.

Time seemed to slow down as they plunged into the icy darkness, and soon there was nothing _but _the darkness, sucking them in, drawing them downward. The tiny speck of sunlight from above was swallowed up by it, and their friends' voices, too. She couldn't see anything – not her hands, not the walls of the pit… not Percy.

Her heart clenched in panic before she realized they were still holding hands. She anchored herself to the point where they were connected, willing her mind to fight through the haze of pain and focus on that one thing: They were still together.

She realized then, with a jolt, that it wasn't just her who might have seen their last sunlight, or heard the last of others' voices. Percy was falling to, he was falling _with _her; he was falling _because of her. _Because she failed.

Another pain shot through her, this time the sharp stab of guilt. She had to choke back a sob. It was only then she realized hot tears were already leaking out of her eyes – only they were flying upward instead of running down her cheeks.

It seemed so unfair that she had come so close, only to lose at the last minute. She had outsmarted the cult of Mithras. She had escaped the spiders. She had defeated Arachne, secured the Athena Parthenos, completed her quest – and then she had fallen. It was like the gods didn't want her to ever be too comfortable, too confident.

Life wasn't fair. Demigods knew that better than anyone, but the knowledge tasted bitter on her tongue.

No, not the knowledge. It took her a moment to register the coppery taste of blood. She must have bitten her tongue without even realizing it when she'd been jerked backward.

It was so fitting – a child of Athena on her way to almost certain death, all because of a lousy spider web.

But Percy was a child of Poseidon. He was never meant for this fate. The only reason he was here was because he was unfortunate enough to love her. Percy and Annabeth, always together, from he very start. Bound together by a prophecy. A quest. A friendship. A mission. A war. A love.

A thread of silk.

She squeezed his hand, and when he squeezed back she realized that she should have known this was how it would always be. They laughed together, they fought together, they survived together – and they would fall together, for better or for worse.

She felt him pull her up to him – or maybe he was pulling himself down – and then they were clinging to each other, pressed in a tight embrace.

She wondered how long they would be allowed to hang on.

* * *

><p>As the sunlight slipped away from them, two words ran through Percy's mind: <em>My fault. <em>

Maybe, if he'd gotten there faster… if he he'd seen the string before it was loose… if he'd gone with her… if he hadn't let her go at all…

Gods, how could he have been so stupid? The Athena Parthenos was nothing – _nothing _– compared to Annabeth's life.

He'd once been warned that he would destroy the world to save a friend, and he'd never felt that was true more than he did now. He knew that he would give anything to get Annabeth out of this. She would hate him thinking like that, he knew, but it was hard to be logical when you were free falling toward every monster you'd ever slain, and then some.

Briefly, he saw a flash of New Rome, the vision he'd had of them living there, going to college… maybe having a family. It was all slipping away from them like the last speck of sunlight that had vanished moments ago, and there was nothing he could do about it.

_As long as we're together, _she'd said. Together – it was more than just a word; it was the fundamental truth of their relationship. There couldn't be one without the other, not anymore. When he'd been in California, she was his beacon in the heavy fog of uncertainty. Before, on Ogygia, he might have stayed if he hadn't known what was waiting for him back home. He'd turned down a place among the gods for a mortal life with her, because where she went, he would follow. Even to the Underworld. Even permanently.

She had always been his light in the dark. Her hair would be his sun now, her eyes his stormy sea. If she was all he had, that was fine – as long as they were together.

He felt her squeeze his hand, which made him hold on tighter. Her touch made him feel something other than dull anger; he felt an overwhelming sense of determination as the full weight of everything they were fighting for settled over him. He had seen what they had to lose, and he refused to let go of that.

Mustering the last of his strength, he pulled their bodies together and wrapped his arms around her. He felt a glimmer of hope knowing they'd always protected each other, and always would. He wouldn't let go of her again – they still had something permanent to build.


End file.
